


Little Bug

by Mommy



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: and adrien is actually adrien dupain, anyway its sad and nathalie knows shes done wrong and wants be good, in which marinette isnt a dupain-cheng but rather an agreste-cheng, what do i call this exactly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 11:14:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14055738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mommy/pseuds/Mommy
Summary: Nathalie had taken quickly to this charming little bug who memorized her name on the spot, and who smiled a muted smile behind pressed lips (it was impolite to show her teeth, she said, and she didn't want to be rude).She had taken to her but knew there was a line she could not cross.





	Little Bug

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning there is a big character death and this is entirely a drabble piece around an AU I'm working on.  
> Also Guillaume is the name I've given the Gorilla.

Nathalie had taken quickly to her employer's daughter, there was no doubt about that.  
Yes, Marinette was a menace at times, certainly, but what child wasn't? She had her mischievous streak, but more than that, she exhibited such an impossible and extreme level of empathy that it took the grown woman's otherwise stern heart by storm.

Nathalie knew very little about the young girl the first time she found herself on the receiving end of Marinette's boundless compassion, and she knew with certainty that the unfamiliarity was mutual. But Marinette rushed to her to comfort her of a perceived pain nonetheless; she said it would be alright, and asked if there was anything she could do to help the pain go away - over a slightly twisted ankle that would hurt for the rest of the day, but probably no more.

Nathalie had taken quickly to this charming little bug who memorized her name on the spot, and who smiled a muted smile behind flush lips (it was impolite to show her teeth, she said, and she didn't want to be rude).  
She had taken to her but knew there was a line she could not cross.

Even as the seven year old mourned her mother's death, knew the word 'dead', but still couldn't entirely conceive the full meaning of death beyond that her mother was gone and could never return, there was a line she could not cross.  
Nathalie couldn't hold the girl when she cried, or invite her to share her feelings.  
She couldn't comfort her when she was desperate for it, she couldn't demand that Gabriel come out of his seclusion to acknowledge his breaking daughter.

She couldn't impart any wisdom on the girl when she insisted that she wasn't sad, even if she was crying, she just _cried_. Just as well, because Nathalie wouldn't know what to say, even if she were allowed to say anything.

Nathalie grew relieved when Marinette cried less and less until she stopped, when Marinette's personality inverted and the charismatic and sweet bug of the past became a husk.  
It wasn't because the little bug felt any better or had become any stronger, but Nathalie could tell herself that it was, even if her quiet and clandestine sighs were only truthfully because she would no longer actively feel guilty about this isolated girl being without solace, barely hiding constant anger towards her father.  
A father Nathalie couldn't support in spirit, but supported in action. A father Nathalie couldn't get through to if she wanted to, and she wanted to, it would simply be in vain, she told herself.

But the more Marinette grew, the less of the little bug remained, the more fragmented Nathalie could feel her heart was.  
She never drew closer to the line, only became more agitated by it.

When Marinette ran blindly into streets without regard for traffic and was barely pulled out of the street in time to avoid a car - however slow-moving, how much damage could ten miles an hour do to an eight-year-old? Nathalie went pale at the mere thought - the closest Marinette's father's assistant got to that line was, "You need to be more careful!" and sharp fingernails digging into the little girl's shoulders. The anger in her tone had outweighed the concern, and Nathalie felt the little bug wither, already too cried-out to cry out of fear from being yelled at. She apologized in a voice that was as diminished as it was practiced and automatic, and arms that once tried to wrap around Nathalie knew better and didn't reach for either one of the two to feel better.

It wasn't the first time Nathalie had shouted instead of comforting Marinette, because scolding was green-lighted by her father.  
It wouldn't be the last, she thought, until she realized that it was.  
The ten-year-old knew how to avoid all dangers out of fear of the person who would pull her away from it last second, or out of recognition that, without the person she was afraid of, no one would. Not with her father locking himself indoors at all times, never glancing her way unless he had something critical to say.

Pieces of Nathalie were almost broken beyond repair, and she realized she could no longer match the gaze of the husk that little bug once belonged in when she became twelve.  
Any time she had to contest Marinette Agreste-Cheng, it was almost more of a request, and when she didn't think it was adequate, she used the reminder of Marinette's father. At that moment, she would yield.  
She would be full of hatred for hours, but she would yield.  
Nathalie knew it hurt Marinette every time, and that it was effective.  
And every time she had to use that last resort bargaining chip, she witnessed Marinette in immense pain once again.  
A spectacle that crushed Nathalie time and again, leaving almost nothing but dust these days, in the wake of Marinette's fatigued robotic voice.  
Any gesture she could do, any small adjustments for Marinette behind the scenes that gave her something she wanted were a pittance for what that broken little bug needed and deserved. And no penance would make up for her debt, just as she would never cross the line.

It was only two days after Marinette had run away from the Agreste manor the first time to try to attend school. The first day, she was unsuccessful. The second, she barely arrived on time, and Nathalie let Marinette through the threshold into the school.  
Now, she sat next to the girl in the back seat of the car. Guillaume idled next to the curb. He hadn't agreed with Nathalie's methods the other day, but he, too, was curious about how Nathalie had handled Marinette's first day at a public school when she had to come back to the angry Gabriel Agreste.

"Marinette, you disobeyed me yesterday. Do you see that school?"  
"... Yes." There was that robotic tone Marinette always used to cover how much she felt like spitting acid everywhere- how much she wanted to argue, how much she wanted to cry. Nathalie knew it well.  
"You are never, and I repeat, _never_ to go to that school again."  
Marinette's calm expression began to falter. Nathalie averted her gaze so she couldn't catch it in her peripheral vision. She loathed that expression, when Marinette hurt enough to make it, having ever been a part in causing it. But she could still hear the struggle in swallowing, the adjusting in the back of Marinette's throat while she forced down her anger. It wasn't much better.  
"... Without your bodyguard."

The struggle stopped, and Nathalie had to blink away the slight moisture brimming at her eyes, staying silent.

"He will be dropping you off and picking you up every day, without exception. Nathalie has adjusted your schedule to make sure it doesn't conflict with your tutoring and photoshoots, but if there is the smallest drop in performance, you will be pulled from classes at once."

"I... understand." It was a tone Nathalie hadn't heard, not in recent memory, anyway. Her voice sounded a little more alive, a little like something impossible and breath-taking had happened. Her voice was little more than a murmur when she added, "thank you."

The screen disconnected, and Nathalie could see Guillaume's position adjust in the driver's seat. She knew he was satisfied, but Guillaume wasn't the one she had done it for.  
She flicked her gaze finally back over to Marinette, who hadn't moved an inch just yet.

Marinette was gazing back at her, wide bluebell eyes showing a glossy sheen Nathalie hadn't seen in years, not since she last saw the little bug. Like she might cry.  
Her voice was as airy as it was amused and disbelieving. "Thank you, Nathalie." She gave her a muted smile behind flush lips.

"You're going to be late."

And the little bug hurried from the car into the school.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if it's poorly written in some places. I kept thinking about their dynamic in the AU and had to put it into a little drabble so this was all just quickly written from start to finish?  
> Plus I started at 4AM and it's 5AM now.


End file.
